When planned IS/IT project benefits are not realized: a study of inhibitors and facilitators to benefits realization

• Organizations fail to realize intended benefits from IT projects.
• Organizational change is necessary for the delivery of benefits.
• IT evaluation methods lack an organizational dimension.
• Results show facilitators to organizational change vital for business benefits.
• Assessing the organizational dimension can enhance project evaluation techniques.

IS/IT evaluations reveal that many organizations fail to realize planned benefits from their IS/IT projects. Benefits management researchers argue that organizational change is necessary for the delivery of IS/IT project benefits. However, existing IS/IT evaluation methods adopt a narrow quantitative focus on costs and benefits and fail to consider the organizational dimension. This study brings together the concepts of benefits management and IS/IT evaluation using the Cranfield Benefits Dependency Network (BDN) as a diagnostic tool to examine an underperforming IS/IT project. The analysis revealed that planned benefits had not been realized because of a lack of attention to technical and organizational facilitators and inhibitors associated with IT-enabled organizational change.